<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>we can navigate the stars to bring us back home by thatwasanticlimactic</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29202891">we can navigate the stars to bring us back home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwasanticlimactic/pseuds/thatwasanticlimactic'>thatwasanticlimactic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>love will do what it does (winter femslash week 2021) [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5+1 Things, ATLA Winter Femslash Week 2021, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Azula is done with everyone's crap, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lesbian Mai (Avatar), Light Angst, Pansexual Ty Lee (Avatar), obligatory zukka mention, surprisingly not referencing ozai but Mai's mom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:14:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29202891</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwasanticlimactic/pseuds/thatwasanticlimactic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>five times Mai and Ty Lee played pretend and one time they played for real</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>love will do what it does (winter femslash week 2021) [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137812</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>we can navigate the stars to bring us back home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>day four of femslash week: childhood friends!</p><p>ahhhhh i am SO excited for this one! this was the first idea i had and just. yeah. but i think it is important you all know that the gold fish constellation is Zhao the fish.</p><p>the title is from the song "Neverland" from the musical "Finding Neverland" :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <b>I.</b>
</p><p>There was always something so special about being outside.</p><p>Maybe it was because the flowers were pretty or the sun made everything seem brighter.</p><p>Maybe it was because she felt free in the wide open space compared to her small, cramped home.</p><p>But, Ty Lee loved being outside, so, naturally, recess was her favorite part of the day.</p><p>She was in third grade, running around on the playground equipment, pretending to be an explorer. None of her other friends wanted to play explorer with her. They wanted to jump rope, but they <em> always </em> jump roped. Sitting in class all day was so <em> boring </em> and hard, but then they wanted to play the tedious game where two people always had to just stand there and swing, one person got to jump, and everyone else stood waiting?</p><p>(and since she was really good at jump rope, they didn’t like it when she went because she never got tangled in the rope. So they always made her swing it and that wasn’t fair)</p><p>Ty Lee was pretending she was running through the jungle, ducking under low branches and swinging on vines. She wasn’t entirely sure <em> why </em> she was running through the jungle yet. It was probably for some kind of treasure and she was running because the bad people were chasing her.</p><p>She had just slid down a slide and was preparing to swing across some more vines (monkey bars) when she noticed an unfamiliar girl sitting by herself in the shade underneath a tree. In fact, if Ty Lee hadn’t looked in that direction before she stood up, the branches would have blocked her from view.</p><p>The girl looked bored and lonely and that wasn’t any way to spend recess! So, Ty Lee paused her journey through the jungle and approached the dark-haired girl.</p><p>“Hi! I’m Ty Lee!” she exclaimed after she ducked under a particularly low branch. “What’s your name?”</p><p>The girl ever so slowly lifted her head and raised an eyebrow, her mouth still in a flat line. She blinked.</p><p>“That’s fine. I’m playing explorer, wanna play with me?” she asked, and again, the girl just blinked. Ty Lee huffed, hands on her hips. “Well, can you at least tell me what I’m trying to find?”</p><p>At this, the girl shifted, turning her head for the briefest of seconds before returning it to face Ty Lee. “The blue slide.”</p><p>She had a raspy and— it wasn’t soft, no, more of a low voice.</p><p>Ty Lee sighed. “No, not something here. Like, a treasure or a cave or a cursed staff or something! I can’t choose and if I can’t choose then there’s no point in being an explorer and I have to play jump rope again!” She wrinkled her nose. “And I don’t <em> want </em> to play jump rope!”</p><p>The girl cocked her head, blinking again. “Then find a four leaf clover.”</p><p>“No! I can’t find a four leaf clover!” Ty Lee insisted. “I need to <em> pretend </em> to find something!”</p><p>Once more, the girl blinked.</p><p>Ty Lee frowned. “I’m playing pretend! Haven’t you ever played pretend before?”</p><p>Gloomy Girl shook her head so slowly that Ty Lee almost missed it.</p><p>“Okay, well, will you try with me then? That way we can think of something together?” she asked, flashing her widest smile to try and get the girl to join her (she just looked so lonely!). “Please? It’ll be fun and if you don’t like it, I won’t ask you again, deal?”</p><p>Gloomy Girl sighed but stood up. “Okay.”</p><p>“Ahh! Yay!” squealed Ty Lee, clapping her hands. “Okay, so, when I left off, I was being chased by evil men on giant horses!” she explained, grabbing the other girl’s hand and dragging her to the slide. “So, we need to find a way to make them lose us.”</p><p>As Ty Lee tried to think of a way to lose the bad guys, Gloomy Girl looked around. “I don’t see anyone chasing us.”</p><p>“Well, duh! No one’s actually chasing us! It’s all pretend!”</p><p>
  <em> Blink, </em>
</p><p>“You know, it’s all in your head? I’m imagining that I’m being chased!”</p><p><em> Blink. </em>“But… that’s not real.”</p><p>“Exactly! And that’s what’s fun!” The other girl didn’t respond, so she continued. “Hmm, if they’re chasing us from that way—” at that she pointed in the direction she had come from before she went down the slide, “— then the treasure must be away from them, right?”</p><p>“But why would the treasure be away from them?” asked Gloomy Girl.</p><p>Ty Lee shrugged. “I don’t know. Why wouldn’t it be?”</p><p>“But you said these guys are trying to stop you from getting the treasure, so wouldn’t they be guarding it then?”</p><p>Ty Lee felt like her eyes bulged out of her head. “You might be onto something! Maybe <em> that’s </em> why they’re chasing us! Instead of trying to steal the treasure, they’re protecting it!” she gasped. “Maybe <em> we’re </em> the bad guys then! Good idea…” she trailed off, hoping for the girl to offer her name.</p><p>Instead, the girl shook her head. “I don’t get it.”</p><p>“Oh! Did I talk too fast? Teachers always tell me that I talk too fast but if I don’t talk fast then how will I remember what I’m gonna say?”</p><p>The dark-haired girl looked taken aback, almost unsure of how to respond to the wordy statement. “No. If you were playing, then wouldn’t you already know how it’s going to end?”</p><p>Golly, this girl was giving her a run for her money (not that she had much). “You don’t have to know right away, that’s what makes it fun! Sometimes you just make things up as they go along and that’s when you make something really special happen!” she explained, hoping it would make some sense. The girl didn’t respond (no surprise there), but her eyes widened just a teeny-weeny bit, so Ty Lee called that progress.</p><p>“Okay. I like both ideas a lot,” she said. “How about you choose! Do you think we should be the good guys trying to save the treasure or the bad guys trying to steal it?” She gave the girl’s hand (that she just realized she was still holding) a little squeeze of encouragement.</p><p>Her eyebrows furrowed and she just barely bit her lower lip, and Ty Lee worried for a second that maybe she <em> hadn’t </em> made progress and the widening of eyes was out of annoyance. Her toothy smile fell and her grip slacked. She had really hoped this girl would’ve been different than everyone else because no one else ever wanted to play with her. Everyone in her class seemed to think that she was too annoying to play with or too loud, even the girls she jump roped with.</p><p>But before she could tell the other girl that it was fine and she could leave, she spoke up. “I always liked villains.”</p><p>And Ty Lee beamed. “Bad guys it is then!” She scrunched up her face with the intent of looking mean. “Mwahahaha! We’re going to steal that treasure! And with it, we shall rule the world!”</p><p>Gloomy Girl didn’t laugh, but Ty Lee noticed the corners of her mouth twitching. That was a victory in itself. “Come on, fellow villain! Let’s shake those heroes off our trail!”</p><p>As she was about to take off, the girl spoke up again. “Mai.”</p><p>Ty Lee wanted to jump in the air and do a little dance of excitement, but she didn't want to scare Mai away, so she just said: “Come on, Mai! Let’s shake those heroes off our trail!”</p><p>So, with Mai in hand, Ty Lee raced across the playground, zig-zagging back and forth to throw their pursuers off. She jumped over crocodiles and large rocks, hid behind giant trees before having to make another run for it, and used her sword to swipe at vines in their path.</p><p>Mai followed along, but she didn’t seem to be doing a lot, Ty Lee noticed. When she ducked, Mai stood tall. When she jumped, Mai just ran like normal. So, Ty Lee decided to try and add a bit of suspense to the story, hoping that might make it more exciting for her partner.</p><p>As they were running around the tether ball pole, Ty Lee staggered, leaning against one of the poles. “Ooooo,” she cried, pretending to be in a massive amount of pain and clutching her side. “Mai, they got me! They got me good!”</p><p>Mai just stood in front of her, squinting. “Huh?”</p><p>“The good guys, they got me! See?” she continued, gesturing to her side. Nothing. <em> “They hit me with an arrow,” </em> she stage-whispered, immediately lolling her head to the side to continue the persona of having been hit.</p><p>“How…” Mai trailed off, still looking at her in confusion. “I don’t see an arrow.”</p><p>“We’re pretending, remember?” she reminded her. “It advances the story!”</p><p>“What do I do?”</p><p>Ty Lee shrugged. “I don’t know. Whatever you feel like doing. What would you do if I got hit by an arrow for realsies?”</p><p>Mai pursed her lips. “I don’t know, maybe get the teacher?”</p><p>She huffed, stepping away from the pole and crossing her arms. “You can’t get the teacher! The teacher won’t be there when we’re running in the jungle and I’m bleeding out!”</p><p><em> Blink. </em>“I’m confused.”</p><p>“No kidding!” agreed Ty Lee. “Okay, do you want to be the one hit by an arrow? Would that make more sense?”</p><p>Mai tilted her head. Her expression didn’t change, but she <em> thinks </em> the quiet girl was contemplating her answer. “Maybe.”</p><p>“Okay,” began Ty Lee, grabbing Mai’s shoulders and pushing her towards the tetherball pole. “Now, the good guys got you! And-and you’re in pain! How does it feel?”</p><p>“Normal.”</p><p>“No no no. I mean, are you in pain? Are you numb? Does it hurt a lot or did it just kinda hit you?” she continued to prompt, waving her hands for emphasis.</p><p>“I didn’t really get hit,” Mai started, and Ty Lee almost combusted on the spot, “but if I did, I think it would hurt.”</p><p>“Yes! Good!” Ty Lee clapped her hands. “Well, not that you’re hurt, but, you know what I mean!” Really, though, she wasn’t entirely sure if Mai <em> did </em> get what she meant, but it’s fine. That wasn’t the important part. “So, if you <em> were </em> hit, like in real life, do you think you could keep going or do you think you’d have to sit down while I heal you?”</p><p>“I can make it,” Mai answered immediately. The response was so quick that she wasn’t even sure she heard it. “It’s not that bad.”</p><p>“Okay, if you say so,” the brunette replied. “Now, we gotta go back to our secret hideout. So, since you’re hurt, you should hold your side, kinda like this.” Ty Lee clutched her stomach and hobbled about in a circle. “See? And we can’t run as fast as we did earlier or you could die.”</p><p>“Like… this?” Cautiously, Mai moved her left hand up until it was over just above her right hip, then ever so slowly, she pressed down.</p><p>“Yes! Just like that!” applauded Ty Lee. “Not too fast or you’ll die!” she added, grabbing Mai’s free hand and walking along with her. Compared to her enthusiastic and, admittedly, overdramatic performance, Mai’s was kinda dull, Ty Lee thought. She didn't make any faces as they half-walked and half-ran and didn’t offer any creative dialogue, but she thought it was still kinda fun. Above all else, Mai was willing to try, so she figured that means more than how good someone is at pretending.</p><p>They had just figured out that their secret hideout would be a cave hidden by lots of mushy green moss (and by “they”, she really meant “she”. Mai just kinda nodded along with whatever she suggested), a shrill and annoying whistle practically burst her ear drums.</p><p>“Aw noooo,” she pouted, letting go of Mai’s hand. “We were just getting to the good part! School ruins everything!” She thought she saw Mai roll her eyes, but the Gloomy Girl’s hair was partially in her face, so she wasn’t sure.</p><p>“Well, I’ll see you later, I guess,” she groaned, forlornly gazing back at the tree where she saw Mai hiding. She told Mai that she only had to play once, and the darker haired girl didn’t seem to have a lot of fun, so she wasn’t too happy that recess was over, which meant returning to the usual boring jump roping.</p><p>“Tomorrow.”</p><p>Her head shot up, her eyes wide, at the sound of Mai’s voice.</p><p>“Tomorrow. If you. Want.” Her words were choppy, and she sounded really unsure of herself, like maybe she shouldn’t be talking, but Ty Lee barely noticed.</p><p><em> “Yes!” </em>she cried, jumping up and down. “Yes yes yes! That would be so much fun! And when I get home, I’m gonna think of some ideas so tomorrow I’ll be more prepared and—” she cut herself off with a squeal.</p><p>
  <em> Blink. </em>
</p><p>“Can I hug you? Is that okay?” she asked, her smile so big it hurt a little bit. “Most people don’t like it when I just hug them and mommy says that I have to always ask first because not all people like being hugged. So, is it okay? Can I hug you?” She didn’t intend to pull out her polar bear dog eyes (that’s what she called them because it was fun to draw animals combined into one), they kind of just <em> came out. </em></p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>And so Ty Lee flung herself at Mai and gave her a really big hug, trying not to squeeze her too much because her mom also said not everyone likes to be squeezed.</p><p>Mai stumbled backwards a little bit with a soft <em> “oof”, </em>and she didn’t return the hug, but that was okay. Because she still wanted to play tomorrow. And if she had fun tomorrow, then maybe she’d want to play again the next day and the day after that and the day after that and they could be friends.</p><p>The thought made Ty Lee really giddy. She didn’t have too many friend-friends. She knew a lot of people that she called friends, but she didn’t think they’d call her a friend back.</p><p>Tomorrow would be another adventure and tomorrow she’d get to go on it with Mai.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>II.</b>
</p><p>Tomorrow came and went, and suddenly, they were in sixth grade.</p><p>It was the weekend and Mai’s mother had <em> finally </em> allowed her to stay the night at Ty Lee house, something the two girls had been wanting since third grade. Ty Lee wasn’t sure <em> why </em> her mom was so against the idea, it’s not like they would do anything bad or anything. They just wanted to hangout outside of recess or classes. Although, she did suspect that her mom didn’t like her.</p><p>“Aaaaand this is my room!” squealed the brunette, doing a backflip and spreading her arms wide for emphasis. Her room was kind of big since she shared it with one of her sisters. Their beds were on opposite sides of the room, pressed against the wall. It was clear which side was Ty Lee’s since she tried really hard to make her space personal. The walls on her side were covered with drawings, most of them of her and Mai during their recess adventures. Her half was also rather bright, full of bright shades of pink and yellow. Her comforter was white with lots of pink sparkles and her bed was filled with stuffed animals. “We’ll probably just sleep here, unless you want to sleep somewhere else, but I have six sisters so that might be a bit hard,” she giggled.</p><p><em> Blink. </em> “Okay.”</p><p>“Here, you can just put your stuff on my bed for now! Oh, and if we do end up sleeping here, you can have Ty Lin’s bed! We share a room but she’s staying the night at her friend’s house tonight!” she added, watching as her friend placed her bag down.</p><p>“Then why would we sleep somewhere else?” asked Mai.</p><p>She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s wherever the night takes us!” she replied, flopping down on the floor and patting the space across from her. Mai slowly sat down.</p><p>“So, what do you wanna do first?” she asked.</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>And Ty Lee was used to this. Mai usually fell back and let her decide what to do or what to play, which she didn’t mind! It was nice to have someone who actually listened to and liked her ideas. She sighed. “Hmmm, I dunno.” She adjusted her position, laying on her stomach and resting her chin in her hands.</p><p>“What do people usually do during sleepovers?”</p><p>“It depends on who you’re with,” she answered. “Sometimes you play games like truth or dare—” she giggled at the disgruntled look on Mai’s face at that, “— or sometimes they cook and watch movies.”</p><p><em> Blink. </em>“I don’t care what we do.”</p><p>Ty Lee rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you do, silly!” she scoffed. “Ooh! Wait! I have an idea! You wanna play pretend? We haven’t done that since they got rid of recess.”</p><p>Mai snorted. “They didn’t ‘get rid of recess’, there isn’t recess in middle school.”</p><p>“Yeah, but why?” she continued, lifting her feet in the air and moving them in circles.</p><p>“Maybe because middle schoolers don’t need a recess,” she suggested. “Or they’re too old to play.”</p><p>Ty Lee gasped, unintentionally lunging forward and causing her elbows to lose their grip, making her upper body fall. “Ow,” she muttered, opting to sit on her knees and rock back and forth instead. “What do you mean we’re too old to play?”</p><p><em> Blink. </em> There was silence as Mai thought. It wasn’t unusual, Mai always took longer to answer questions than all the other kids Ty Lee knew. Something she had noticed about her friend is that she was always really careful with what she said. She was trying to work on that with her, help her be more expressive. So, she waited patiently, moving her gaze so she was staring at the carpet rather than Mai. She found that Mai felt more comfortable when people weren’t looking at her.</p><p>“I don’t know,” she finally said. “We’re eleven and twelve years old. People our age shouldn’t be playing all the time.”</p><p>There was a different sort of flatness to her voice than usual, Ty Lee noticed. Most people thought Mai always sounded bored, but that’s because they didn’t <em> really </em> know her, not like she did. She sounded less hesitant than usual. She filed that away in the back of her mind for later.</p><p>“Exactly!” she exclaimed. “We’re <em> only </em>eleven and twelve! We have the right to have fun!” Ty Lee slammed her fist against her floor, taking pride in the fact that she noticed Mai’s lips twitch. “I don’t think anyone should ever stop playing pretend. It makes everything less boring.”</p><p>
  <em> Blink. </em>
</p><p>Ty Lee jumped to her feet. “Come on, Mai! We’re going to play fashion show.” She grabbed one of the bright pink blankets from her bed and wrapped it around her waist, striking a pose. “My name is Kun and I am a famous model from, um, oh! The Fire Nation!”</p><p>Mai quirked her brow. “The Fire Nation?”</p><p>She nodded, doing a little twirl. “Yes! The Fire Nation! It’s a mystical land across the seas where people can control fire!”</p><p>“And there’s a fashion show. In the Fire Nation?”</p><p>“Yes, keep up. And, um, oh! My manager got me hired to model for famous fashion designer Nuan. She’s all the rage this season. Anyone who’s anyone wears her stuff,” she continued. Ty Lee extended a hand to Mai and helped her off the ground. “You need a costume too. See anything you wanna use?”</p><p>The darker haired girl shrugged. “Probably just another blanket.”</p><p>Ty Lee gave her a thumbs up, running to her closet to sift through her pile of blankets. “Another blanket! Let’s see… you probably don’t want a pink one, umm or bright blue one… or a yellow one… hmm…” She knew she had an abundance of blankets, too many, probably. But she loved them so much! The texture was so nice and fluffy and always made her feel cozy and happy. Still, though, she liked bright colors whereas Mai… well, her best friend tended to wear much darker colors, and she didn’t want to make her wear something she didn’t like!</p><p>“What about that one?”</p><p>She whirled around when Mai spoke up behind her and tried to keep her smile it’s usual length, she didn’t want to <em> scare </em>Mai into silence.</p><p>Mai was pointing at an orange blanket that she had accidentally thrown on the floor while looking through the pile. It wasn’t a bright orange, but it wasn’t a super dark shade either. It kind of reminded her of the color of pumpkins.</p><p>“Because you said… you said we’re in the Fire Nation and people there can control fire and orange is a color of fire…” she trailed off, looking at the ground.</p><p>“Ah! That’s a great idea!” cried Ty Lee, instantly swooping down to grab the blanket. “It’ll be like you’re <em> wearing </em>fire! I bet that’s what Nuan is showing off! Like, a live art project! You’re so smart, Mai!” She threw the orange ball at her, laughing as Mai fumbled to catch it before it unravelled.</p><p>“How do I wear it?” she asked, holding the blanket at full length in front of her.</p><p>“However you want!” replied Ty Lee, adjusting her ‘outfit’ so it wouldn't fall off. “How do <em> you </em> think Nuan of the Fire Nation would design it?”</p><p>Mai cocked her head to the side, quizzical looking at the blanket. Ty Lee was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet while she watched, cherishing the fact that Mai actually looked excited? She wasn’t entirely there yet because Mai kept a pretty neutral face most days, but her eyebrows were furrowed like she was concentrating and her mouth wasn’t in the thin line anymore, more like a super slightly-barely noticeable upwards line. But it was there. And she noticed.</p><p>Her best friend cautiously wrapped the orange fabric around her shoulders then extracted her right arm from underneath so the blanket was under her arm. “Is this alright?”</p><p>Ty Lee flung her arms around Mai and gave her a huge hug. “It’s perfect.”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>III.</b>
</p><p>There was no worse feeling than that of losing yourself, Ty Lee figured that out early on. Six sisters, all similar in appearance, constantly being compared or called by the wrong name by everyone around her… her grip on humanity was a rope that was frayed and tearing and holding on by one singular thread.</p><p>She was in eighth grade and could quite honestly say that she hated it, which absolutely meant something since she was the one who was always able to find something to be happy about. But kids were mean. And she didn’t know how to fix herself.</p><p>Mai told her that there was nothing she needed to fix, and as sweet a thought as that was, it was wrong. Plain and simple. She was too loud, too fidgety, too <em> much. </em></p><p>Not just at school, but at home too. She was too needy, too much of an attention-seeker.</p><p>But losing her volume, her passion, her energy was losing herself once more and falling right back into the line of blurred faces so similar there was no reason to name them.</p><p>She was tired.</p><p>Ty Lee chose to walk home from school. Mai never took the bus, so what was the point in her taking it? Her head was down and she was watching herself kick rocks while she walked when she heard panting behind her.</p><p>“Ty… Ty Lee, w-wait for… me.”</p><p>Even out of breath, Mai still managed to keep her voice level. That thought made her smile.</p><p>She stopped, turning around and witnessing Mai running towards her, her backpack falling off of her shoulders. “You okay?” she asked when her friend caught up.</p><p>Mai nodded, taking a second to wipe sweat from her forehead. “Yeah. I just wanted to walk with you today. If that’s okay with you.”</p><p>She beamed. “It’s <em> always </em>okay! I love spending time with you!”</p><p>The darker haired girl stared at her quizzically as they began to walk again. “You’ve been quiet today.”</p><p>An embarrassed blush began to creep up her neck. “Have I? I didn’t realize it. Whoops,” she chuckled half-heartedly. “How was your day?”</p><p>Mai rolled her eyes (affectionately). “Stop it. What’s wrong?”</p><p>She fluttered her lips. “Pfft, nothing’s wrong, silly! Just a little tired, I think? Plus I have all this homework I have to do, sucks, right?” Her legs were shaking with every step, her fingers nervously tapping against the straps of her backpack.</p><p><em> Blink. </em> “Come on. You always make me tell you when I’m upset. I’m not stupid. <em> I know you. </em>You haven’t been… acting like yourself today.”</p><p>“Well, maybe you don’t know me as well as you think!” she retorted, immediately cringing at her own harsh words. “No, sorry. That was really mean.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Ty Lee sighed, Mai did make a good point. “What if… what if <em> I </em>don’t know who I am anymore?” she whispered. “Like, what if I don’t have any actual personality? I’m just floating around Earth with no actual purpose or reason?”</p><p><em> Blink. </em>“That’s a lot.”</p><p>“Tell me about it,” she huffed. “Everyone gets mad at me when I’m too loud and then when I shut up because that’s what everyone always tells me to do, they act like they care about how I feel as if they weren’t the ones I was being quiet for.” She paused, glancing at Mai whose face hadn’t really changed. “Not you, though, Mai. Whenever I’m with you, I feel like I start to remember who I am.”</p><p>It was so quick Ty Lee almost didn’t believe she saw it. Mai’s face softened, like, for real. The expression was gone as soon as she blinked, but she knew what she saw. “Who’s telling you all of that?” asked Mai.</p><p>There was no use in lying, not to Mai. “My sisters and some kids at school,” she admitted. “It’s not like it really matters but being called ‘annoying’ and ‘loud’ just… I don’t know. It makes me sad.”</p><p>Today was a day of firsts for Mai’s facial expressions, it seemed. Mere seconds after she finished explaining, she saw her friend’s nose scrunch up. “They’re stupid.”</p><p>“Not really, but I appreciate the thought,” replied Ty Lee, staring at her quizzically for a moment. “So, how was your day?”</p><p>It was an obvious subject change, but Mai didn’t seem to mind. “Boring.” She lifted her chin just slightly, but Ty Lee could easily read Mai’s non-manuals at this point in their friendship. That was her way of asking her about her day in return.</p><p>She burst into an overly elaborate and slightly exaggerated explanation of her day at school, leaving out only the bits she didn’t want to think about.</p><p>Another thing she loved about Mai was that she was a great listener. She always nodded along and made eye contact while she spoke. She never felt more heard than when she was with Mai.</p><p>It didn’t take long, but she was about ¾ of her way through describing her day when they reached her house. “Well…” she trailed off, not really wanting Mai to leave. “See you tomorrow, I guess?”</p><p>Before she could walk away, she felt the cool touch of Mai’s hand when she grabbed hers. “Are you busy right now?” Mai shifted uncomfortably.</p><p>“Nope. Probably just going to contemplate life and do homework, but what’s new?” she joked, or tried to joke, at least.</p><p>Mai smirked and Ty Lee had absolutely no time to react before Mai took off running, dragging her around the side of her house and into her backyard. She slung her backpack off her shoulders and pulled hers off as well, tossing them on the ground.</p><p>“Mai, what—”</p><p>“Arghh, who’s Mai?” she growled, her voice weirdly pitched, her mouth curved in an almost creepily wide smile. “I, uh, I be Captain… Captain Lee! And you’re aboard my… my ship!”</p><p>This time it was Ty Lee who blinked at her. “Huh?”</p><p>“We’re going to play pretend. We’re pirates,” she explained quietly, awkwardly adjusting her hands on her hips and striking a pose.</p><p>Her performance was… kind of terrible, but Ty Lee thought it was the most magical and beautiful thing she had ever seen. It made her heart squeeze in her chest, but it didn’t hurt.</p><p>The moment felt so surreal, so overwhelmingly touching. Mai wasn’t the biggest fan of pretend, especially because her mom always looked down on her for it (Mai doesn’t say much about her, but Ty Lee could put that much together from the little she’s mentioned). Maybe it was over dramatic to say that this was the best moment of her entire life, but it <em> seemed </em> like the best moment of her entire life. Mai beginning their childhood game to cheer her up was… it was so special.</p><p>She didn’t realize she was crying until Mai was in her face, one eye open and one eye closed in what she <em> assumed </em>was supposed to be a scary face?</p><p>“Why are you crying? People who cry walk the plank! You want— you want to walk the plank?” she squawked.</p><p>“No, Captain Lee,” she responded, wiping her tears away with her sleeve and grinning. “I, uh, I, First Mate Wang Fire, am content on the ship! No plank for me, arghhh!”</p><p>“Aye, First Mate Wang, I see um, a ship coming in to, uh, attack us!” cried Mai, pointing at one of the oak trees away from the house. “Ye prepared for a fight?”</p><p>“Arghhh, I am always prepared for a fight!”</p><p>In the loudest voice she had ever heard Mai speak in, she yelled, <em> “Show no mercy!”, </em> after which she proceeded to pull a small knife out of thin air. It must have been in a pocket or strapped in her sleeve or <em> something, </em> but Ty Lee had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from ruining the moment because <em> Mai has a knife and this is fantastic. </em></p><p>She brandished an imaginary sword, pointing it at her attackers and surging forward, yelling made up pirate insults along the way. Mai was close behind her, but she wasn’t heckling her imaginary foes or anything. She was leaning forward, her arms behind her back.</p><p>It eventually became a race more than defending their ship, each girl trying to outrun the other in laps around the yard. They were a giggling mess, shoving and making faces at each other.</p><p>It was the most fun Ty Lee’s had in what felt like ages.</p><p>Mai inevitably won their race, which didn’t really surprise her. After which— their enemies completely forgotten— they huddled together by the tree where Wang Fire explained to her captain that she found a treasure map.</p><p>Captain Lee was intrigued by the prospect of the treasure, so the girls and their hearty crew went on an adventure around the neighborhood.</p><p>They pointed out black squirrels and weirdly-colored house doors. Each time they spotted someone walking their dog, they changed their path to make it more interesting.</p><p>After awhile, they ran into another kid in the neighborhood, Aang, two years younger than them, who was walking his dog Appa.</p><p>“Hi, Appa! How’s my favorite furry dog doing?” she cooed, rushing to his side and rubbing his back. Appa seemed pleased to see her as he was enthusiastically barking and licking her face. “Oooh, that’s so good to hear! I’m doing alright too, thank you so much for asking, boy!”</p><p>“Hi Mai, Ty Lee!” said Aang, waving as Mai finally caught up to her friend. “You guys going for a walk?”</p><p>“Not really,” chirped Ty Lee.</p><p>“Nope,” Mai deadpanned at the same time.</p><p>They shared a look and she noticed Mai biting back a smile. “We’re pirates, searching for our treasure!” Ty Lee growled. “This here dog is a sign, I tell you! It means we’re getting close.”</p><p>Mai nodded. “We just need to change directions.”</p><p>“Oooh! That sounds fun!” replied Aang. “I can’t even remember the last time I played pirates!” </p><p>“You should try it again sometime, it’s really fun!”</p><p>“I will! I wonder if Toph would like playing pirates with me…” He trailed off, his eyes going wide and shaking his head. “Maybe not Toph.”</p><p>Ty Lee laughed and Mai blinked.</p><p>And since Ty Lee spoke ‘Mai’ so well, she noticed that that was a pretty quick blink. That meant she was getting a little socially stressed. She didn’t blame her, they lived in different neighborhoods so she didn’t know Aang that well. She couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable Mai must feel.</p><p>“Sorry for cutting this short, but my captain and I are so close to finding this treasure! We best be going before those <em> other </em>pirates get there first!” she explained, giving Appa one last pet on the head and Aang a quick side hug. “If you ever want to play pirates, just lemme know, okay?” She smiled fondly at Mai. “I haven’t played it in awhile either.”</p><p>“Will do!” Aang said happily, giving her a thumb’s up. “Good luck finding your treasure! Bye, guys!” With one last wave, he and Appa continued down the sidewalk.</p><p>“You know,” Ty Lee started, pulling an invisible map out of her pocket and examining it, “I think most of these spots might have been red herrings.”</p><p>“Oh?” <em> Blink. </em></p><p>She nodded. “Mhm. I think the treasure is back where we began!”</p><p>“We have to hurry then, the others are on our tail!” exclaimed Mai, slowly falling back into her pirate character.</p><p>Together, they raced down the streets and until they were back at Ty Lee’s house. She didn’t realize it in the heat of the moment, but she and Mai had been holding hands.</p><p>“So, Wang Fire, does the map say what the treasure is?” Mai asked, her tone more joking than anything.</p><p>“Arghhh, that it did, Captain Lee!” replied Ty Lee, turning to face Mai.</p><p>Her friend raised an eyebrow. “What might that be?”</p><p>She didn’t answer. Instead, she flung herself at Mai and wrapped her arms around her tightly. “A hug.”</p><p>She felt Mai instinctively stiffened in her grasp, but she eventually relaxed and hugged her back, albeit not as fiercely.</p><p>“Thank you,” she whispered, begging herself not to cry again. “Thank you so much.”</p><p>Mai said nothing, she only held her a bit tighter, but that gesture said more than enough.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>IV.</b>
</p><p>“I’m going to fail.”</p><p>Ty Lee rolled her eyes as she flipped the page of her history book. “No, you’re not,” she chided.</p><p>“You don’t even know what class I’m talking about,” Mai deadpanned.</p><p>At that, Ty Lee sighed, looking up from her book and peering over the side of her bed to glance at Mai who was sitting on the floor. “What class are you talking about, Mai?”</p><p>“English.”</p><p>“And what is this thing you’re working on?”</p><p>She sighed, furrowing her eyebrows. “It’s this stupid creative writing assignment. We have to write a two-paged short story.”</p><p>“Ugh, that sounds so much more fun than what we’re doing in English,” Ty Lee complained, pouting. “We don’t even <em> get </em> to do creative writing! Just essays.”</p><p>“I’d rather do the essays,” replied Mai dryly. “It’s an English class, not a creative writing class. I don’t even know what I would write about. And you know I’m bad at writing.”</p><p>Ty Lee scoffed. “You only say you’re bad at writing because you don’t ever write.” She closed her book, shifting her body weight so she could flip over the bed and land on the floor. “Let’s play pretend. Maybe that’ll get some ideas flowing.” She extended a hand to Mai, smiling.</p><p><em> Blink. </em>“We’re sixteen.”</p><p>“Yeah, and?”</p><p><em> Blink. </em> “I— okay. Sure. Let’s try it.” Mai grabbed her hand and she helped her to her feet. “What’re we pretending?”</p><p>She shook her head. “Nope. I’m not choosing— you’re going to choose, since it’s your paper,” Ty Lee informed her. Mai glared at her, but she ignored it. “Come on! We’ve done this a million times before! Just start small, okay? Think of a word and we’ll go from there.”</p><p>“Um…” Mai looked around her room, her head tilted just barley to the right (that means she’s thinking really hard). Her gaze eventually ended up closing in on the ceiling of her room. “Stars,” she said, pointing to the plastic glow in the dark stars that were still decorating the ceiling.</p><p>Ty Lee clapped her hands. “Good choice!” She ran to her door and flicked the light switch. The only light in the room were the plastic stars above them. “What do you feel? What are the stars telling you?”</p><p>“They’re stars. They don’t tell me anything.” And Ty Lee noticed that her voice was just barely an octave higher. That meant she was frustrated.</p><p>She sighed, “No no no! Mai, they tell you everything! Look at them— what do you see? And don’t say ‘stars’ because that’s cheating.”</p><p>There was a moment of silence. “I guess I see the Big Dipper.”</p><p>“Okay, the Big Dipper! We can work with that!” she exclaimed, making her way back to Mai through the darkness. “Now, what does the Big Dipper make you think of?”</p><p>More silence and then— “NASA.”</p><p>“Oooh! Great idea, Mai! We’re astronauts!”</p><p>“That’s not what I said.”</p><p>Ty Lee facepalmed. “No. That <em> is </em> what you said. Give yourself some credit. Your ideas are better than you think they are.” She covered her mouth with a hand and began making deep breathing sounds. “I’m in a spacesuit and I’m in my rocketship. Where are we going?”</p><p>“Space.”</p><p>“Boo!” she heckled. “No, we’re already in space. Be specific.”</p><p>“Fine. The moon.”</p><p>“Too common, give me a different planet. We’re going somewhere that no one has gone before!”</p><p>“I don’t— Neptune, I guess,” Mai mumbled, and Ty Lee could picture her crossing her arms and scowling.</p><p>“Alrighty! We’re going to Neptune!” she declared, waving her arms out in front of her until she connected with Mai. She grabbed her hand. “Now, why are we going to Neptune?”</p><p>At this point, her eyes were almost adjusted to the dark so she was just able to make out the outline of Mai. It looked like Mai was thinking— like <em> really </em>thinking about her answer. Ty Lee was kinda proud.</p><p>“We’re searching for something. Umm. we’re… we’re searching for…” she trailed off, but Ty Lee didn’t say anything. She didn’t mind waiting for her to find her thoughts. She’d wait an eternity for Mai, so she gave her hand a squeeze. “We’re searching for a species of aliens.”</p><p>“Ooh! Do they have a name?” she asked, rocking on her heels.</p><p>“Um… they’re… they’re turtles— turtle-ducks! Yeah. Turtle-ducks,” affirmed Mai, nodding. “We need to find the turtle-ducks to save our reputation because everyone thinks we’re crazy… or something. I don’t know.”</p><p>“No, Mai, that’s great! Really!” she assured, completely blown away by how big of a step this was for her best friend. “That’s so good! Okay, let’s go find those turtle-ducks! Lead the way, Captain!”</p><p>Mai took a couple of steps forward, then stopped. “I’m stuck again.”</p><p>“That’s fine!” Ty Lee said quickly. “Let’s try walking like we’re in space, really get in character!” She saw the outline of Mai shrug.</p><p>Hand in hand, they took giant, exaggerated steps around the room, moving as if they were in space suits. Every few minutes, Ty Lee would point at something and make up random names for it. “Ah, look! It’s the armadillo-lion constellation! Over there! It’s the ice lilies! Don’t touch them, though, because they can break through your suit and you could <em> die. </em>There’s the red hole! It’s like a black hole, but red and if you fall in, it’ll suck you into a fake utopia and you’ll be trapped there forever!”</p><p>And Mai was laughing— like really laughing— as she continued to point stuff out. It was probably Ty Lee’s favorite sound in the entire world.</p><p>After at least a half hour of wandering around space, they fell to the ground. There was a sizable distance between them, but Ty Lee never let go of her hand and Mai never let go of hers.</p><p>The stars on the ceiling were dimming, but they were still bright enough to see. “Those stars kind of look like a goldfish,” Mai said, pointing to the right corner of the ceiling. “A grumpy fish. Those stars that would be the mouth kind of look like a frown.”</p><p>“Those look like a tree!” Ty Lee chimed in.</p><p>“A cup of coffee.”</p><p>“Two frogs cuddling!”</p><p>It was nice, reminded her of when they were younger and spent recess playing together. “I missed this,” she whispered. “We don’t play like this as much as we used to.”</p><p>“We don’t.”</p><p>A part of her wanted to scoot closer to Mai, to press up against her side. But Mai wasn’t a very touchy person, so she didn’t. Holding her hand was enough. While her friend was still looking at the stars, Ty Lee was looking at her. They were still draped in darkness, but even still she could see the content smile on Mai’s face.</p><p>It came to her as quickly as a flash of light— as a shooting star would soar across the sky: Mai was the most beautiful thing in the room. Not just in her bedroom, but the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.</p><p>“You know, you always say you’re not good at this, but I think you’ve had an imagination all this time,” Ty Lee said softly, smiling warmly even though Mai wasn’t looking.</p><p>Mai just squeezed her hand a little tighter.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>V.</b>
</p><p>There were few moments in her life when Ty Lee felt genuine fear. One was after she watched a scary movie as a child and had a nightmare. Another time was when her aunt was hospitalized after a car accident.</p><p>But neither of those compared to the complete and utter terror that froze the blood coursing through her body when she picked up the phone at one in the morning and heard Mai’s borderline terrified voice: “I need you to come get me, <em> please.” </em> Mai hung up immediately after she finished the sentence.</p><p>And Ty Lee would do anything for Mai, so she shot out of bed and told her mom she was going to Mai’s house. She grabbed her car keys and scrambled into her car, trying to stop her hands from shaking so she could drive safely.</p><p>They were seniors in high school now. Though Ty Lee never hung out at Mai’s place, she knew exactly where she lived. Even though Mai didn’t tell her why she needed to be picked up, Ty Lee knew enough about her gloomy friend to gather that it probably had something to do with her mom. </p><p>Mai never talked about her mom, and when she did it was to mention that her mom didn’t want her to do something or didn’t like something. Ty Lee didn’t even need to meet the woman to know she hated her. She remembers seeing lonely eight year old Mai hiding from the world under the branches of their elementary school trees, remembers seeing her eyes widen ever so slightly (which she later learned was what Mai did when she was scared or nervous), remembers Mai not knowing how to be a kid.</p><p>Yeah, she didn’t like Mai’s mom.</p><p>It wasn’t a long drive to Mai’s house, but it was long enough to convince Ty Lee to speed a little. She normally tried not to speed out of fear of getting a ticket, but this was Mai.</p><p>It took her thirteen minutes to get to her house, and she immediately took her phone out and texted her to let her know she was here.</p><p>She was expecting Mai to come through the front door, but she supposed that was wishful thinking. It took her a second to see the silhouette of Mai climbing down the side of her house from her window. And her house was <em> huge, </em>like, mansion huge. Ty Lee wanted to run out and spot her, but she knew Mai wouldn’t want her to risk it, so she sat, her legs bouncing anxiously.</p><p>It took her six minutes to get to the ground, but Mai had always been more agile than people assumed, so it didn’t take her unbearably long. As soon as her feet were on solid ground, she was bolting, a bag slung over her shoulders, and was in Ty Lee’s passenger seat within seconds.</p><p>“Mai—”</p><p>“Later. Drive. Please.”</p><p>Ty Lee loved Mai so she didn’t ask questions. She slammed her foot on the gas pedal and they were out of the neighborhood in less than a minute. “Where do you want to go?” she asked, taking deep breaths in attempts to keep her nerves under control.</p><p>“I don’t care. Anywhere that’s not there.”</p><p>Just like Ty Lee had never felt more scared, she had never heard Mai sound so afraid. "Okay, um, you wanna go back to my house?”</p><p>“Not yet. I just— I can’t—”</p><p>“No, shh, it’s okay,” replied Ty Lee instantly, taking one hand off of the wheel to grip one of Mai’s. “You want to get some fresh air first? We can go to our elementary school playground, if you want?”</p><p>“That’s fine.”</p><p>Mai’s hand was stiff and clenched and if she really paid attention, she could feel a slight tremor in her fingers. She wished there was something more she could do at the moment, but for now she was fine with running her thumb along the back of her hand.</p><p>Mai was out of the car as soon as she parked, zooming towards the playground. Ty Lee fumbled with her keys, dropping them and struggling to pick them back up as she locked her car before following her friend into the night.</p><p>She found Mai sitting on a swing, her head down and her feet dragging through the mulch. She approached her the way one would an injured animal, cautious and quiet. “Mind if I sit next to you?” she asked, keeping her voice low.</p><p>A nod was her response, so she sat on the swing beside her. She waited, hoping Mai would say something about what happened. They sat in silence for five minutes.</p><p>“Are you okay?” she finally said, hands clasped so tightly around the chains of the swing that her palms began to hurt.</p><p>“I— no.” She slowly raised her head, her eyes gazing forlornly past Ty Lee’s head.</p><p>In the faint glow of the nearest light pole, Ty Lee saw her face. She saw her barely quivering lips, her empty eyes, the hand-shaped bruise on her right cheek.</p><p>She gasped, letting go of the chains to reach towards her best friend, wanting desperately to pull her into a hug and hold her and keep her safe. But Mai flinched away.</p><p>There were so many emotions swimming through her mind— each one so strong and so bold she wasn’t sure what she was truly feeling. Anger was one she could discern— no, it was more than anger, it was <em> fury. </em>Another was devastation. The rest were a blur.</p><p>“Di-did your mom—”</p><p>“I don’t want to talk about it,” interrupted Mai, her words forced and choppy. “Can we…” she stopped talking as if trying to force the words out, “can we play pretend? Please? I just. I need to <em> pretend </em> right now.”</p><p>Of all the times they’ve played pretend in the ten years that they’ve known each other, this was the first time it was Mai who asked to play.</p><p>“I— okay. Yeah. We can play pretend,” she stuttered. <em> Get a hold of yourself, </em> she thought. <em> Freak out later. Help Mai first. </em> “Is there… is there anything you want to pretend?”</p><p>“I don’t care. Anything is better than this.”</p><p>Ty Lee swallowed back a sob. “O-okay. Umm. Let’s play…” For the first time in her life, her imagination was escaping her. Nothing came to her mind immediately because nothing was as important as Mai. “Let’s play superheroes, yeah. Like Sup-Superman and Batman. My name i-is The Phoenix and I have the power of flight.”</p><p>“I’m Invisible Girl. I can turn invisible.”</p><p>The words were spoken so earnestly, and Ty Lee wanted to cry even more. “Okay, Invisible Girl. We need to stop our arch nemesis… um… The Blue Spirit, yeah. We need to stop him from turning everything in the world blue.”</p><p>She lacked her usual enthusiasm. She was trying to sound excited, but it was hard to do that when she could see the red spot on Mai’s cheek beginning to bruise.</p><p>“Blue?” Mai asked stoically.</p><p>Ty Lee just nodded. “Yeah. He was born with blue hair and everyone made fun of him as a kid, so he’s seeking revenge by making everything blue.”</p><p>Mai snorted. It didn’t sound real, but it was enough for now.</p><p>She jumped off the swing, extending a hand to Mai and pulled her to her feet. She didn’t let go— she <em> refused </em>to let go. Not until she knew Mai was safe.</p><p>It wasn’t their most exciting game of pretend. Nothing Mai did seemed genuine, but she couldn’t blame her— she wasn’t all in either. The game consisted of half-hearted leaps, using monkey bars they were too tall for, and escaping the bad guys by sliding down slides.</p><p>They were twenty-seven minutes into their game, halfway through taking down the Blue Spirit’s cronies on the platform by one of the slides when Mai sucked in a shuddering breath, leaning against the bars preventing them from falling off the side.</p><p>“Mai, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” she cried, at her side in an instant, a hand hovering above her elbow.</p><p>Mai just shook her head, eyes squeezed shut. “I can’t.”</p><p>“That’s okay. That’s okay,” she soothed. “We don’t need to do this.”</p><p>“I thought this would help.”</p><p>“I know, I’m sorry.”</p><p>Tentatively, she caved, placing her hand on Mai’s forearm. She felt her flinch. “Can I hug you?” she asked</p><p>Mai nodded, so Ty Lee flung her arms around Mai and held her close.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>+I</b>
</p><p>Some friendships were just meant to last, almost like fate or destiny. They didn’t plan it, but Mai and Ty Lee ended up choosing the same college and took that as an opportunity to room together.</p><p>Ty Lee’s freshman year of college was wonderful in every way. She was a dance major and was surrounded by people who didn’t think her interests were annoying or dumb because they had the same interests. The dance program at their University wasn’t very large, so she quickly became good friends with her classmates. For one of the first times in her life, she felt seen and like she belonged.</p><p>Mai was even getting out a bit more! She became friends with an English major named Zuko and he introduced the roommates to his boyfriend Sokka and his younger sister Azula. They would have movie nights at Zuko’s house every once in a while and it was one of the first times she had ever seen Mai look so comfortable and happy around other people.</p><p>So, college was great, but it was even greater because she had great friends. And because she had Mai.</p><p>About halfway into the semester, she was studying with Azula in the library when she came to the most important revelation of her life.</p><p>Azula was helping her with her required finance class homework, but she wasn’t really listening to what her friend was saying because her phone screen lit up and she saw that she got a text from Mai. She wasn’t going to open it immediately, she just kind of grabbed it before she could stop herself. It was a text wishing her luck with the performance test she had in a couple of hours.</p><p>She didn’t even realize Azula had stopped talking until she looked up from her response to see her glaring at her. “If you’re done flirting, I’d like to get back to finance, please.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>Azula rolled her eyes, resting her chin in her hands. “You’re talking to Mai, are you not?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah. Mai texted me good luck for my dance performance test! She’s so thoughtful,” Ty Lee replied giddily.</p><p>“Ugh, you too are sickeningly sweet. Get a room.”</p><p>Ty Lee was the one to blink this time. “Okay, first of all, we aren’t dating? Second, we’re just texting, we don’t need a room for that.”</p><p>“Your gooey smile is enough to make me want to throw up.” She paused, tilting her head quizzically. “You do like Mai, don’t you?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“No, really, think about it. Do you like Mai?” Azula persisted, cocking a brow.</p><p>“I—” Ty Lee began but, when she really thought about it, thought through all of the years she spent with Mai, all the times she played pretend with her even though she knew Mai didn’t like playing pretend because she thought she was bad at it. The way their hands found each other without really trying, the way they moved effortlessly as one, the way she literally never stopped thinking about Mai and how pretty she was and <em> oh. </em></p><p>
  <em> Oh. </em>
</p><p>She must have made a face because Azula nodded. “There it is.”</p><p>“I like Mai,” she whispered. “How did I not know this?”</p><p>Azula shrugged. “You two are really obvious. The way you look at each other is adorably disgusting. But you are better than Zuzu and Sokka, I suppose, so you have that going for you.”</p><p>“I like Mai,” she repeated, looking from her phone to Azula. “Azula! <em> I like Mai! </em>Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”</p><p>“Well, I thought you’d figure it out eventually,” she drawled. She held her hand up, her fingers spread apart. “You literally hold hands all the time.” One finger down. “Mai actually genuinely smiles at you.” Another down. “I’ve seen you wear each other’s clothes. You guys cuddle during movie nights. You walk each other to and from class.” The last three fingers went down. “She’s very obviously smitten. Do you need me to go on?”</p><p>Ty Lee began to rock back and forth in her seat. “You really think so? I mean, I think you’re definitely right that I like her, but, ahhhhhh! Azula! <em> I like Mai!” </em></p><p>Another eye roll. “Are you really asking me this? Think long and hard about how Mai acts when she’s with you versus how she acts with everyone else. For example, since apparently you need one, you’ve actually made Mai laugh and she doesn’t even laugh at Sokka’s jokes, though those are bad but they make you and Zuzu laugh, but whatever.”</p><p>And… Azula had a point. Like, a <em> really </em>good point. But there was still that part of her that wondered if the only reason Mai was like that with her was because they’ve known each other for years.</p><p>“I’m assuming by the enlightened look on your face you realized that I am, as always, correct?” Azula’s almost crude voice broke her out of her head.</p><p>“Yes. Yes, you are definitely right.” Her fidgeting was getting worse, her fingers bouncing at the same pace as her legs. “Should I tell her? I mean, I <em> want </em>to tell her, but should I?”</p><p>“This is a very redundant conversation.”</p><p>Ty Lee scoffed. “Okay, but you didn’t just realize that you were totally in love with your best friend since third grade, ‘zula!” she retorted. “I don’t even know how I would start a confession!”</p><p>“You’re overthinking this,” remarked her friend, picking at her nails, thoroughly amused. “You know Mai better than anyone. What would she want?”</p><p>What would Mai want?</p><p>If Mai liked her back, she wouldn’t be able to tell her first, that she knew for certain. Mai’s confident about many things, but feelings and words were so far off the list they wouldn’t even be on the same planet as the list.</p><p>But like Azula said, she knows Mai just as she knows how to walk or talk. Her ability to read her is natural. Sure, she’d noticed the way her smile had gotten just a bit bigger when they were together over the years or how Mai would be the one to reach for her hand and— <em> holy trash Mai definitely likes her back. </em></p><p>“I think I know exactly what she’d want,” she replied softly. “Uhh, mind if we study tomorrow instead?”</p><p>“Obviously. You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to just spit it out but Zuzu and Sokka kept telling me not to. Idiots,” smirked Azula.</p><p>Ty Lee was about to mention something about the fact that even Sokka and Zuko knew before she did, but there wasn’t time because she felt like she might actually combust if she doesn’t literally run to her dorm as fast as she can, dramatically burst through the door, and tell her. “I— okay. Thanks, Azula. You’re the best!”</p><p>“I know!” her friend called as she sprinted out the door.</p><p>Azula lived in a different dorm than her and Ty Lee. The two dorms were pretty close considering Sokka lived in the same one as Azula and Zuko’s house was across campus. It was normally about a ten minute walk depending on the weather or how fast she was going .</p><p>She got back to her room within six minutes.</p><p>She knew Mai would be in the room when she got there because she knew Mai’s schedule better than her own (and that probably should have been even a tiny bit of an indicator that she like-liked her. This was Zuko’s second year living with Jet and neither of them had the slightest clue what <em> classes </em> the other was taking), and she was always done by 3:15pm on Thursdays.</p><p>Sure enough, Mai was sitting at her desk, back straight as ever, taking notes on a book she was reading for her anthropology class.</p><p>“Mai!” she cried as she, quite literally, burst through her door (and it kind of occurred to her that this was one of the rare moments in life when a fantasy came true. Not only did she sprint to her dorm in a record time, but she got to <em> burst through a door, </em>just like in those romantic comedies Mai hated).</p><p>The other girl started, turning around quickly and relaxing as soon as she saw who it was. “Oh. Hi. I thought you were studying with Azula?”</p><p>Just as well as Ty Lee knew Mai’s schedule, Mai knew Ty Lee’s.</p><p>“I was, but she told me something about myself that I didn't realize was there and I had like, this enlightening revelation and—” Ty Lee paused her rambling to continue her intake of oxygen, “— you know when you’ve known something your entire life but you don’t realize you’ve known it because it’s always been there so you’re used to it?”</p><p>
  <em> Blink. </em>
</p><p>That meant yes. “Okay, so I had this revelation and I can’t not do anything about it,” she continued, striding across the room until she was next to Mai, grabbing her hands and hauling her up so they were face to face.</p><p>“Mai. Let’s play pretend.”</p><p>Since she was so close to her friend’s face, Ty Lee could see the way her lips tightened, almost as if she was disappointed. “Been awhile,” she eventually said.</p><p>“Yeah,” she breathed, staring into Mai’s eyes and cherishing how beautiful they were, how much depth there was to them. What made them even more special was that it was a depth only she could decipher. “I don’t think we’ve played it since senior year.”</p><p>
  <em> Blink. </em>
</p><p>That was an uneven blink, her left eye opening before her right. That happens whenever Mai has an idea or figures something out. “Are you nervous for your dance performance?” she asked, her tone light and understanding. “You shouldn’t be. You’re the best.”</p><p>A bubbled kind of laugh fell from her lips. “You’re only saying that because I’m the only dancer you’ve ever seen.”</p><p>“You’re my favorite dancer.”</p><p>Yeah. <em> Yeah. </em>How dense was she to not realize this was the woman she loved?</p><p>She must have been staring and mentally berating herself for a little too long because Mai cleared her throat. “What do you want to pretend today?”</p><p><em> Just breathe, </em> she thought. <em> Just trust Mai. Trust your heart. Trust your gut. </em></p><p>“What if… we pretend that you were my girlfriend?”</p><p>
  <em> Blink. </em>
</p><p>And then Mai’s hand was on the back of her neck, pulling her close and pressing her lips against hers.</p><p>Ty Lee leaned into the kiss, using her unoccupied hand to tenderly cradle Mai’s right cheek, just like she wished she could all those nights ago. An expression of love.</p><p>They pulled apart after a minute, or maybe it was longer or shorter, she couldn’t be sure. It might have been an eternity. Neither of them moved, they just stood, staring at each other and gasping for air.</p><p>
  <em> Blink. </em>
</p><p>“I’d like that,” Mai said.</p><p>She squeezed Mai’s hand, their own love language, she supposed, trying and failing not to cry.</p><p>Gloomy Girl squeezed hers back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hope y'all enjoyed, thanks for reading:)</p><p>i just... i love mailee...</p><p>i'm that-was-anticlimactic on tumblr if anyone ever wants to talk about how much i hate the version of Mai's mom that is canon in my mind:)</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>